Radio Vatican report: The first volume of Joseph Ratzinger’s Opera Omnia, edited by Libreria Editrice Vaticana was presented yesterday at the Rimini Meeting. It is the first of 16 volumes that represent the collected writings of the future Pope on the centrality of the liturgy in Christian life.
Pope Benedict XVI has often described the liturgy, as "the highest expression of the beauty of God's glory,….somehow a glimpse of heaven on Earth." In the preface to Opera omnia Joseph Ratzinger writes: "It 's been for me since my childhood, the central activity of my life”. Going on to quote from St. Jerome, the author of "Vulgate," the Pope stresses that the liturgy “is still alive, it is not a thing of the past”.
Bishop of Regensburg, Mgr. Gerhard Muller, curator of the Opera omnia in German spoke to us about the liturgy in the life and teachings of Benedict XVI.
A. - The Christian faith is not a theory, a philosophy, an ideology, but personal contact with Christ, the God who became man, Jesus is present in the Holy Spirit. The liturgy is sacramental participation in the life of God. The liturgy is not just a 'theatre', a self expression of the heart or a subjective idea. The Catholic liturgy is the expression of objective, real, concrete contact with God himself, who wants to live with us, his creatures.
The director of this Libreria Editrice Vaticana, Don Giuseppe Costa is also attending the Meeting in Rimini. Don Costa illustrated the fundamental characteristics of the Italian Opera omnia and offered a preview on the second volume of Jesus of Nazareth by Pope Benedict XVI.
A. - There are 16 volumes that do not relate to his teachings as Pope, but his writings, his teachings, his interviews as a cardinal. The Complete Works stops where he was elected Pope. We have published all the teachings of Benedict XVI in his series "Teachings" until 2009.
Q. - This not counting other publishing initiatives of the pope such as the book on the life of Jesus?
A. - Of course, the translators of the Secretary of State are already working, a demanding task, on the various translations in various languages. We have already reached agreement with 18 publishers for the first edition of the text of the Holy Father, the new "Jesus of Nazareth," which will focus on the paschal mystery of the Passion, Death and Resurrection of Jesus.
Q. - A date for the release of the Pope's next book?
A. - We have already speculated on the first Sunday of Lent, March, and we also aim to deliver various publishers texts by Jan. 15 in order to prepare for national issues.
http://www.radiovaticana.org/en1/Articolo.asp?c=417296
Comments